Rain for the Righteous?
"But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust"
Matthew 5:44-45
On this beautifully brisk and rainy day here in SoCal, Nick and I set up at CSUF with the addition of a tent and free coffee to give out. The question on the board was fitting for the occasion as we asked for peoples' interpretations of what Jesus meant in saying, "[God] sends rain on the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). One conversation I had about this passage was with a returning Muslim student I've conversed with a number of times before. This was an interesting engagement as he seemed to repeatedly contradict his own claims about the nature of his god. At first, *Isaac interpreted the passage to mean that the rain represents blessing and that God sends the rain to good and evil people; however, when I asked the question another way, *Isaac quickly corrected himself to change the meaning of "rain" when falling on the unjust (just in case you were wondering, this is not a good hermeneutic). My aim was to draw out the distinction between YHWH, the biblical God, and Allah, the Quranic god. YHWH loves and blesses His enemies, but Allah does not love his enemies - a very significant distinction between these two conceptions of God. All too often people try to marry these religions, but the mere nature of the deities clearly creates distinction - let alone all the other reasons...
On that same day, I had a conversation with this young, agnostic man with the umbrella - *Ryan. *Ryan had previously spoken with one of our student evangelists and had originally come back to talk to him; however, he was in class, so *Ryan was stuck with me! *Ryan and I had an interesting conversation about their previous conversation and the arguments they had discussed for moral relativism and objective morality. *Ryan honestly did most of the hard work for me as he seems to be a genuinely open and seeking person. He asked me how I make distinctions between the Abrahamic religions and choose Christianity - great question by the way - so I discussed the division at the cross and the extremely compelling evidence and crux of Christianity that event is. Muslims say Jesus didn't die, and Jews say He didn't rise - both are extremely weak historically, leaving Christianity the most compelling based on what we can know. From there, *Ryan asked about God's laws and standards - specifically regarding homosexuality. This can be an emotionally loaded conversation for many people, but I took a pretty simple approach with *Ryan that is founded in the authority of Jesus assuming He rose from the dead. It essentially went like this: If Jesus rose from the dead and thus proved that He is God, then who am I to assume I know better how to live than Him? Even if I don't fully agree or understand from my current perspective, if I agree that Jesus is God, then I really should have little issue moving forward. This can begin painting this image of faith in Jesus which is accurately understood as a trust and reliance - not a cognitive subscription. If Jesus is my loving creator, why would I not listen to His instruction? This is where it boils down to whether or not you choose to trust Jesus, and the resurrection is key!
As I look forward to extending my NCP Disciple-Making Apprenticeship through June 2026, I am also looking for financial and prayer ministry partners in this additional period of time! If you are currently a part of my support team and would like to continue your support through June 2026, please contact Debby McElroy, EFM Bookkeeper, at debby@friendsmission.com. If you would like to conclude with the original support commitment timeframe, please also contact Debby McElroy to ensure we don't mistakenly continue your giving! Read here for more about this apprenticeship extension!
Thank you for your generous support for this training and ministry! Your participation is vital to making this possible!
With love and peace,
Ivan Penrose